Castle Entrance

Remember the castle library that I showed you last spring? Well, when I was walking by with the parade a few weeks ago, the doorway caught my eye, so I took a picture of it. Isn't that a great looking entrance?

Farmhouse

Here's another example of a typical farmhouse with a connected barn. There aren't any animals living there now, but it looks like it must have been quite a hike out to tend the animals back in the olden days. At least you were inside and protected from the elements...

Pretty House

This is one of the houses in the village that I particularly like - it has some interesting architectural details.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family...
to yours!

Patriotic Jacket

This little boy was excited to show off his new jacket at the parade!

Doggie Kisses

This chocolate lab got to ride in the patriotic truck that I posted a few days ago...

...and he got to enjoy smooches from the girls!

A timely sermon...

...although I was a few days late getting the shot & then I forgot to post it! But, I liked the photo and I figured it was appropriate to post a church photo on a Sunday, so here it is.

Little Dog

This lucky little doggie got to participate in the Veterans' Day Parade. Her mom held her during the Memorial Service. She was taking it all in and seemed happy to be out with all the people!

Thank You Veterans!

Here is our youngest, with one of his fellow Scouts, standing beside a sign that was posted in front of the West Paris General Store.

Second Honor Roll Memorial

Front and back of the second honor roll memorial.

West Paris Honor Roll

This is one of two memorials in the park that are engraved with the names of local veterans.

Here is the back side...

Just as I was taking the picture, the mother that spoke at the service stepped into the shot, but I think it's quite fitting to see the soldier's portrait, along with his name on the memorial.


Tomorrow I'll show you the second memorial...

Proud Mother

This woman marched in the parade, carrying a portrait of her son, who is overseas serving in the Army. During the service she read a message to the town from her son, thanking us for our support.

Memorial Park

We gathered in the West Paris Veterans' Memorial Park for prayers and tributes to our veterans, past & present. For such a small town, we have more than a dozen soldiers currently serving in the Middle East...

Patriotic Truck

This truck was all decked out for the parade! It was proudly driven by a local veteran and his family.

Final March

The lady pushing the walker has been leading and organizing the parades on Memorial Day & Veterans' Day for over 20 years. Sadly, she has decided to retire, so this was her last parade and she is passing the torch on to the next generation.

Here they come!

I ran ahead so that I could get pictures of the parade marching down Main Street...

Bundled up!

It was bitterly COLD! BRRRR! The wind blew little snowflakes around, but we persevered and marched!! This is my littlest, honored to be carrying the American Flag in the parade.

Veterans' Day Parade

Everyone gathered in front of the elementary school before the parade. We were early, so I had the boys pose in front of the sign...

Beaver Dam

This is the dam that makes my husband nervous. It is whesthe pond originally drained down into the brook. I think they've done a pretty good job building it, don't you? But, I can understand his anxiety since our driveway is downstream...

Today the boys are marching with their Cub Scout Pack in the West Paris Veterans' Day Parade, so starting tomorrow I'll be posting a whole bunch of pictures from that event!

Lazy Beavers

For some reason, this really tickles me...when the beavers get tired of chewing down trees, they go steal boards from our neighbor to use on the bank of their pond...unfortunately, the neighbor doesn't find it as humorous as I do.

The Beaver House

Here's a look at the house that the beavers have built. It's really quite big! I would love a look inside...

Beaver Pond

This past summer, a pair of beavers moved into our little pond. We now have a big pond! Unfortunately, it is located upstream of our driveway, which makes my husband nervous. If the beaver dam should break, it would wash away! The boys and I think they're really, really cool though and over the next few days I'll show you some of their building project...This shot is looking over the biggest portion of the pond. Daisy thinks it's great! You can just barely see the beaver's house in the background.

Where there's a mud puddle...

...you'll find our boys & dogs!!

Muddy Horses

We got a lot of rain overnight, which made the pasture muddy. Apparently Kitch thought it would be a great idea to roll around and get dirty! I figure he's sticking his tongue out at me in response to my, "OHMIGOSH! You're a mess, Kitch!!" I don't think he cares. ;-) I thought it was funny how Tillie was just peeking up over him, hoping that I wouldn't notice how muddy she was too...

Lazy & Daisy

A few years ago, we had a foal during hunting season, so I purchased this foal sized blaze orange blanket. As a joke, and since it doesn't fit any of our real horses anymore, I put it on Lazy yesterday. Daisy was very curious and the boys got a big laugh out of it!

Better Safe than Sorry

Hunting Season started this past Saturday. Here's Lily all dressed up in her blaze orange blanket! Every year my husband and I debate whether or not this is necessary - would a hunter really mistake one of our horses for a deer? Well, each year, somewhere, that does happen, so I always dress the horses in these blankets and braid orange ribbons in their manes & tails. Perhaps it's foolish, but on the other hand, I know that during the month of November I do not walk into the woods without wearing orange, so I don't see any reason why I would send my beloved horses out there without it...

Promise of Spring

This morning the boys and I planted flower bulbs. They will sure be a welcome sight next spring!

Where's the Lone Ranger?

Does he ride a white motorcyle? ;-) My sister-in-law took this one to add to my collection of cool license plates...

November 2008 Theme Day: Books

Here is my collection of the writings of my very favorite author, Dick Francis. That he is my favorite author may not come as a huge surprise, considering my love of all things equine, but you might not have realized that I also love a good mystery. Dick Francis' books generally involve mysteries of the horse racing industry. They are excellent and I would highly recommend them!

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